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My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

W500/W510/W520 and W700/W701 Series
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My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#1 Post by upgrades » Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:39 am

my T61 died recently so now im looking for a second one to take on the road and versatile yet durable and easily portable and powerful fast laptop when i go to out to friends or travel and use wifi. What would you suggest. Id prefer the few year older lenovos. What do you suggest? T400 series or z? Id like a model that uses ac speed in the wifi..thanks chip as well. Thanks for your help

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Feb 15, 2017 11:09 am

12.5" X220 upgraded with FHD IPS screen.
With a modded BIOS from McDonnell you can also put in wifi-AC: http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/
Thanks to Lenovo's extremely stupid white-listing any newer (X230/T430/T530 etc.) machines can no longer have a non-Lenovo-approved wifi card.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durable user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#3 Post by upgrades » Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:42 pm

where can i buy one of those Mcdonnel x220s?

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#4 Post by hellosailor » Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:18 am

When my T61p threw fits, I replaced it with a W530 and in theory a better internal WiFi card. But times change, an older machine often has crappy WiFi at best. So for $15 I picked up a 8"(?) long dual-band USB/WiFi stick. Throughput and range both went up tremendously. Yes, I'd prefer an invisible internal card...but this was SO easy, so inexpensive, I figured WTF I can always use it on other computers, or when I'm not home and simply need the better range.

"Bigger is better" still is true when it comes to antennas.
"The only good silicon life form, is a dead silicon life form." [Will Rogers]
-- Harboring a retired T61P with Vista/U/32 and housebreaking a younger W530 foolishly upgraded from Win7/64 to Win10.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#5 Post by CASPER » Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:16 am

.....
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#6 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:14 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2017 11:09 am
12.5" X220 upgraded with FHD IPS screen.
With a modded BIOS from McDonnell you can also put in wifi-AC: http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/
Thanks to Lenovo's extremely stupid white-listing any newer (X230/T430/T530 etc.) machines can no longer have a non-Lenovo-approved wifi card.
I thought every Thinkpad had a whitelist?
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#7 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Jul 29, 2017 3:07 pm

Up till T42/X40/R51 any whitelist (if present) could be easily removed with NO-1802.
From T43/R52/X41 onwards the whitelist could be fairly easily removed with a modded BIOS.
But from X230/T430/T530 etc. onwards such BIOS-mods are no longer available.
Who needs this stupid whitelists anyway, other than manufacturers to rip you off even more?
They use feeble excuses such as gov't regulations...

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#8 Post by shawross » Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:14 pm

Lenovo just keep giving us reasons not to spend money.

Upgradability, Screen ratios, keyboards, build quality ......

Nothing new here though unfortunately.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#9 Post by CASPER » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:07 am

So that is another reason to not buy newer Lenovo products. Shame.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#10 Post by wujstefan » Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:10 am

CASPER wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:07 am
So that is another reason to not buy newer Lenovo products. Shame.
Well hopefully a loaded frankie will still do its job for the next 3-4 years I hope ;) (at least for everyday tasks).
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#11 Post by CASPER » Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:48 am

.....
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#12 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:52 am

Unless you have a Q9000 or QX9300, everyday tasks are limited to basic web browsing and not much past that. The other option is a T70, which will give your T61 wings. That's only if you feel like playing around a little bit and feel technically inclined to do so.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#13 Post by Dekks » Tue Aug 01, 2017 9:00 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:52 am
Unless you have a Q9000 or QX9300, everyday tasks are limited to basic web browsing and not much past that.
really? posted on my t61 which does more than basic with standard c2d 2ghz.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#14 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Tue Aug 01, 2017 9:04 am

Which one? There are plenty of 2Ghz ones. The Q9000 runs at 2Ghz.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#15 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:14 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:52 am
Unless you have a Q9000 or QX9300, everyday tasks are limited to basic web browsing and not much past that. The other option is a T70, which will give your T61 wings. That's only if you feel like playing around a little bit and feel technically inclined to do so.
Well don't feel offended, but your everyday tasks must consist mostly on space rocket modelling.

I'm building 3D CAD models using SolidWorks 2016, streaming FHD videos, playing light games (incl. Starcraft 2 and Anno 1404 for instance) on my frankie w/P9700, NOS board from TuuS, LED UXGA and 8 gigs of RAM. My firefox alwas has 20+ tabs open. (T61)
I'm building 3D CAD models using SolidWorks 2016, streaming 720p videos, playing light games (incl. the Guild 2 for instance) on my frankie w/T9400, Intel board, LED UXGA and 8 gigs of RAM. It has been stolen by my wife lately, and she's not complaining. And wifes are a well-known complainers. (R61i)
I would not call that basic web browsing.

With Intel-based frankie averything will work fine.
nvs140m base allows some basic 3D gaming (at least to my needs and likes - Anno1404, SC2, HOMM5 runs fine).
Any of the above + e-gpu or docked graphics in 2503 dock will work like a charm.

With T70 you get a huge performance (for a huge cost), but you lose a fantastic mainboard quality and all the Lenovo software (that I personally find extremely useful).

An old, good, economically - oriented frankie costs ~180-200Euro. I can imagine T70 costing 8-10 times that.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#16 Post by CASPER » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:39 am

.....
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#17 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:58 am

Did you try to reduce graphics options in SW when running this one?

I'm working in SW for 11 years now designing machines for automotive. It uses mostly CPU and a bit of RAM so you have the worst possible CPU with little cache and slow clock in your T500 :) Generally SW 2013 works great and starting from 2014 it became worse mostly due to graphics bajerys that new versions add. Disable high graphics details and it will work just fine.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#18 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:06 am

I use Fusion 360 but I go overkill with a GTX 980 and 8 core i7. (Both were on fire sale when I got them :D )
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#19 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:15 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:06 am
I use Fusion 360 but I go overkill with a GTX 980 and 8 core i7. (Both were on fire sale when I got them :D )
Then you simply got used to luxuries, pal :D
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#20 Post by CASPER » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:21 am

.....
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#21 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:27 am

CASPER wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:21 am
Well P9700 isn't that much faster Will check that graphics options, thanks.
It IS much faster, sporting twice the cache and few hundred MHz more.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#22 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:36 am

And a nice SLAQD CPU is faster than that :)
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#23 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:47 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:36 am
And a nice SLAQD CPU is faster than that :)
I was going economics + battery life when I bought P9700 ;) Of course mentioned E-seriesor a T9900 would do better, I personally run P-series for battery life and heat. I did not test Q or QX series yet, but am planning to when able; I've came into discussion with a forum member here whether those couple of hundred MHz will do better than twice the cache (although Q and QX do not provide the system with smartcache so am a bit sceptical with quad cores).
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#24 Post by CASPER » Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:16 am

.....
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#25 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:48 am

If your really in need for power, just get a W520 or 530. That yields 9226(i7 3920XM) passmark, a long stretch from 2000 points on the P9700. Upgrading to a i5-2520M is like going from a prius to a camry.

Also, youre comparing PassMark points, which is not the whole story. In my phone, I had a SnapDragon 820(2ghz 8core) and I got a dinky (1.2Ghz 4core) which performed badly in comparison in synthetics but in the real world it ripped the 820 to shreds in performance. Games and apps that lagged badly on the 820 ran fine on my piece of junk processor.
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#26 Post by wujstefan » Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:13 am

I think it's thread hijack already :)
upgrades wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:39 am
durable and easily portable and powerful fast laptop when i go to out to friends or travel and use wifi. What would you suggest. Id prefer the few year older lenovos
Remember what the requestor asked for. W520/530 does not match any of those demands, apart from powerful. However I can't imagine sporting W530 just for internet surfing.
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#27 Post by Thinkpad4by3 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:31 am

Fill it with helium?

Or not.

Ok, really only a T430s would work. With a i7, that sucker FLEW. It was one fast machine. Get an FHD upgrade it and be on the road with power. Totally forgot about T430s for a sec :oops: .
Thinkpad4by3's Law of the Universe.

The efficiency of two screens equally sized with equal numbers if pixels are equal. The time spent by a 4:3 user complaining about 16:9 is proportional to the inefficiency working with a 16:9 display, therefore the amount of useful work extracted is equal.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#28 Post by CASPER » Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:15 pm

upgrades wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:39 am
Id like a model that uses ac speed in the wifi..
It is possible to get T430s only with a/g/n or b/g/n options. If that satisfies op, then I think this should be very good proposition.
Last edited by CASPER on Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#29 Post by wujstefan » Thu Aug 03, 2017 1:54 am

Thinkpad4by3 wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:31 am
Ok, really only a T430s would work.
The one with yucky keyboard? Is it moddable enough to give it a reasonable T420 KB?
CASPER wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:15 pm
It is possible to get T430s only with a/g/n or b/g/n options. If that satisfies op, then I think this should be very good proposition.
I don't think it is possible to remove the whitelist. Thus, my T601 sports better wireless options ;)
CASPER wrote:
Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:15 pm
And unfortunately I don't need that much power everyday, but only from time to time.
T400s + 2503 dock w/some old good powerful radeon in it? Cool, quiet and light if needed, powerful when on dock, CHEAP.
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
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Re: My T61 Died need Expert Suggestions to buy a 2nd durble user friendly uprgadeable powerful Ibm Lenovo Laptop

#30 Post by CASPER » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:08 am

Yes, this one. I don't if you can put classic keyboard inside it. Standard T430 will accept it though. No possibility of whitelist removal on xx30 series machines and newer.
I considered this advanced dock in the past and it still looks like quite good option. But I wonder if I could use external GPU with built in display? And what GPU I could put in it as it is quite old now?

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